USC earns two new rankings

Margaret Lamb, Margaret@mailbox.sc.edu, 803-777-5400

According to two separate rankings, the University of South Carolina is among the best in the world and also tops with students who are making college attendance decisions. Times Higher Education, the weekly British magazine that covers news and higher education issues, has ranked USC among the top universities in the world.

The rankings are the first time that Carolina has appeared on the list, which ranks only 1 percent of the world’s universities, according to the publication.

The Times Higher Education rankings are based on 13 indicators across five areas of activity: learning environment, innovation, citations, research, including research income and scholarly papers, and international outlook. USC’s highest ranking was for research citations, which indicates research influence.

Specifically, the magazine cites reputation survey, staff-to-student ratio, number of doctorates award, research income from industry, citations in journals, percentage of international students, faculty and staff, and the number of scholarly papers with one or more international co-authors.

Phil Baty, editor of Times Higher Education, said these universities “push the boundaries of knowledge with research published in the world’s leading journals, and they teach at both the undergraduate and doctoral level in a research-led environment.” Among U.S. public universities, USC ranked 40th and was tied with the University of Georgia.

According to Parchment.com, an education credentials management company that examines the college attendance decisions of thousands of students, USC is 35th among public national universities and third among Southeastern Conference public schools for the number of students who chose to attend the institution after being accepted to multiple institutions.

The 2012 Parchment rankings identify colleges from “most likely to be chosen” to “least likely to be chosen” by the students who are given the option to attend.

The rankings are based on a sampling of more than 120,000 college acceptances from 2009 to 2011, covering a broad range of demographics in all 50 states.

Parchment.com General Manager James Pirruccello said the ranking system cannot be gamed easily by institutions. "With other ranking systems, a college can improve its rank by terminating part-time faculty or by encouraging less-qualified students to apply in order to appear more selective," Pirruccello says. "The only way to game the Parchment.com system is to take actions that make your institution more desirable to students. This ranking system aligns the interests of the colleges and the students."